Wednesday, August 19, 2015

On our last day of
vacation we hit the Metro early in the morning and headed back into
Washington, D.C. We rode a train while
we passed a train.

Yo Lunchbox, I
heard you like trains.

Our first stop was
the National Geographic Museum, where they had a real archaeology exhibit that
was intertwined with one of the greatest movies of all time (that’s not Star
Wars.)

It was kinda
neat.

Right after that,
we grabbed some bikes and hit the road again.

I love that the
bike lanes are plentiful in the city, and that particular one goes right down
the middle of Pennsylvania Avenue. We
rode by the White House again, but this time we stopped in front of the Old
Executive Office Building to listen to some music.

Rad

We continued on,
heading towards the Capitol Building where I stopped for a photo op to support
Pedal Pushers Club.

As you can see,
there is a lot of construction going on up there. The secenery is still neat though.

After another
museum stop (this time at the Smithsoanian Natural History Museum), we rolled
back towards the other side of the National Mall. We stopped at the World War II Memorial.

Then it was on to
one of our favorites, the Lincoln Memorial.

And the view from there
back across the National Mall is good too.

I say this every
year, but D.C. is my favorite place to visit.
I’ve been going there as far back as I can remember, but as a history
buff I will never get tired of it. Now
that they have an awesome bike share program now, getting around is much
better. Sure, you can walk around all
day, but seeing that place by bike can’t be beat (plus you can cram in a lot
more stuff.)

It was a fun trip,
but after a week away from home, we had to head back to the Metro station to
get out of town.

We left right
during rush hour but it wasn’t bad. Once
we got further south and back to my truck though, it was a different
story. The traffic was horrible on
Interstate 95 and it took us forever to get out of NoVa.

It’s a nice place
to visit…

You know the rest.

Once again, another fun “man-cation” for me and my big
kid. I’m glad he still likes to get away
with his old man. Hopefully this won’t
be the last trip we take up there together.

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Our vacation was
off to a good start. After a few days of watching
sportsball, eating great food, and spending time looking at aircraft with our
cousin, we were le tired. It mighta had
something to do with the beer though.

Our hotel in NoVa
(Northern Virginia for you laypeople) was selected due to its close proximity to the Metro, so
all we had to do was hop on the train in the morning and head into D.C. We got up early, had breakfast, and boarded
right after the morning rush.

Our first stop was
the National Zoo, since we like animals and all that. They liked us too.

Sure, we saw the
famous Pandas, but the most interesting sight of the day was the orangutan that
used the catwalk high above the park to move from one area to another.

Actually, the
highlight was when she stopped to take a piss on the people down below.

We laughed our
asses off about that one for a good while.

We stayed at the
zoo for a long time but we wanted to hit the other spots in town. As with other trips we’ve taken to our
Nation’s Capital in the past, we decided to use the Capital Bikeshare.

Just like last
year, the plan was to ride back to the city on the Rock Creek Parkway.

Lunchbox is all,
“Sun’s out, guns out.” (Thanks to
Eastwood for the commentary.)

The Rock Creek
Parkway is a really nice place to ride.
Just outside the hustle and bustle of D.C. proper, it offers users a
rare look at nature so close to the city and unimpeded riding (or
walking/running.) It’s quite beautiful.

And Lunchbox
approves of this style of riding.

Once we got into
the city, we had to use our superior bike handling skills to navigate around
pedestrians and distracted government workers.
Our first historical stop was the White House, of course.

Front:

Rear:

We rode around a
little more until we found an empty dock to return our bikes for a while. We had tickets to the Washington Monument and
didn’t think it would be a good idea to take our bikes on the elevator to the
top.

So, we walked.

I’ve been going up
to the top of there since I was a youngin’, and I still get a kick out of
it. The views are nothing short of
spectacular.

After that we had
to get out of town for a while. We met
up with another cousin down in Alexandria for dinner (and more beer of
course.) It was a long day and another
later night, and it was wearing on us.
We still had one more day to go back to the city though.

Monday, August 17, 2015

It was nice to get
away for a while. Although I go away
every year with Lunchbox, this was was special.
He’s getting older and doing adult stuff now, and to be honest, I really
needed a vacation. The new job wasn’t as
advertised, and the stress of dealing with crap day in and day out made my time
away very important.

So yeah, after my
race (the series finale of the Southern Classic), the boy and I headed north to Virginia. Our first stop was Richmond
to watch our favorite professional sportsball team, but if you didn’t know any
better we went there just to eat.

We did bring bikes
though.

Richmond
has some awesome mountain bike riding, but unfortunately it rained right before
our planned ride time and we didn’t get to go due to trail closures.
Instead, we did a little sightseeing (and more eating of course.) One of the highlights was the historic Hollywood Cemetery,
which has the remains of two U.S.
Presidents as well as Jefferson Davis, the President of the C.S.A.

Don’t be offended
by the flag. It’s history, dumbass.

It was definitely a sight to see.

And the views were nice...

even if we didn't get to ride over there like we planned.

After a couple days
in Virginia’s capital, we packed
up and headed to NorthernVA
for the rest of the week. Our first stop
up there was at the National Air and SpaceMuseum (Udvar-Hazy Center) where we met up with our
cousin for a little sightseeing.

It was neat.

It was nice to
spend time with our cousin, and pretty cool to visit a museum I’ve never been
to before (despite many trips to the area.)
We went to visit a little more family after that, then it was off to our
next hotel to get ready for a big day in my favorite city.

Monday, August 10, 2015

Anyway, I figured since yesterday was race day that I should at least post one update. So here I am. You know that. But yesterday I was at The Sizzler in Greensboro, the last race in the 2015 Southern Classic Series. The kid and I left the house early and headed north. I figured that since I sorta had 1st place overall locked up that I didn't need to work that hard in the last race. While we all gathered around waiting to start though, they started doing call ups. That's something I've never expereienced so it made me have good feelz. When they called me up as the leader of the series, I thought that maybe I should put in a little effort. A few minutes later, we took off.

Photo credit: Lunchbox

I resisted the urge to take off fast at first. The pace wasn't blistering, so I stayed up front and hit the trail in 2nd place. Then, the climbing started. Not being on my bike since my trip to Mulberry Gap last weekend really hurt my fitness and I immediately began to suffer. I let one guy by and dug in, hoping that I had enough to finish the race. I pushed as hard as my tired body would let me and kept 1st and 2nd place in sight. We stayed together for a while but I just couldn't keep it up. I was hurting, and wondered how many more places I would lose before the day was over. Towards the end of the first lap I dropped one of my water bottles. I was in trouble. Eventually I came through the start/finish line and notified Lunchbox that I lost one of my bottles. I passed through and headed back out for more.

Photo cred: Mike Long

Lap two and I was feeling a little better. I was attacking on the climbs, and giving it everything on the flat stuff. I knew for sure that I would catch up to the leaders. I was moving fast, but I didn't see anyone ahead of me. I kept thinking about that damn water bottle (that I would no doubt need later) and it was screwing with my head. Just then, one particular section seemed familiar to me so I started looking for it. Magically, it was sitting upright on the side of the trail. I stopped to pick it up, knowing that it would hurt my chances to catch anyone ahead of me.

Who gives a shit.

I passed through the start/finish line and tried to make up for lost time on the third and final lap. I was moving quickly, hanging on to the hope that the two guys up front were wearing down. That lap went by much quicker, and when I hit the grassy field I gunned it towards the finish line.

I held on to third place.

I wore a kilt. My shirt says, "Who gives a shit." That means I don't care if you think it's a skirt.

That podium spot definitely secured my place in the series lead. Right after that photo, I got called up again...

to stand on the top step.

Podium shots photo cred: Lunchbox

It was a good day. I had a blast racing the whole series, and actually I'm excited to do it again next year. Srsly. I worked hard and had fun, and with a little luck had some success this year. I guess I should start looking at some other events to do before the year is over.

Friday, August 7, 2015

This week’s been a
pisser (as usual), but that’s probably because I had such a rad time last
weekend. Nothing like going from having
an awesome time in the hills on bikes with friends to something that feels like this:

Well, I don’t have
to worry about work for a while. When
today ends, vacation starts. I sorta
feel like the colonists when they were trying to get England off their backs.

Yeah.

Even though it’s
vacation time, Sunday is race day again.
This is the finale for the Southern Classic Series and I am excite. One more hard effort on the bike, then
hopefully I’ll finish out on the top step of the podium as the overall
winner. Or maybe I’ll just cruise around
for three laps up in Greensboro and still somehow end up there. Either way, I’m happy that it’s over, and
I’ll miss it too.

There will be a
race report on Monday.

Directly after the
race, Lunchbox and I are heading up to Virginia for a week. It’s our yearly “mancation” and we’re both
looking forward to it. So after a post on
Monday, I’m gonna stay the hell away from this computer bloggy thingy for a
while.

Wednesday, August 5, 2015

So, back to the
Mulberry Gap weekend.
We took off in one big group, heading up the five mile climb to the top
o’ the mountain.

Eastwood and I were
chatting it up with Quadsworth on the way up…

After a little bit
I mentioned to him that we probably shouldn’t be keeping that kind of pace on a
climb and he agreed. Just as the
conversation starting getting into why there will be no Wilkes 100k this year,
the climb got steeper…

And I dropped off.

A few of us did as
a matter of fact. After a week of muscle
relaxers and relaxing my muscles (i.e. sitting on my ass not riding a bike),
all that climbing caught up to me. It
didn’t matter though, since Niner Mike made sure that no one got left behind. It was a fun group ride after all.

Eventually we made
it up to the lookout.

That view was
definitely worth it, and the best part was that we were gonna start going
downhill. My legs were unresponsive at
that point, so going downhill was a much needed break. The descents were so awesome that I didn’t
stop to take photos (probably a first for me), but luckily someone did when we
stopped at one point to regroup.

Photo credit: Trey Commander

I flew through the
descents like I was a pro or some shit like that. In fact, I had no idea I could ride that
stuff so well. It was more about the
bike I guess, with my Niner ROS9 with a drooper post doing
most of the work. There were a few
climbs here and there but we rode mostly downhill back to the finish of our big
loop.

The trail was quite
rad. Not quite as technical as The
Pisgah, but technical enough to make you feel like you were actually riding in
the mountains instead of some cross country dirt roadie track. There were rocks, roots, jumps, creek
crossing, and a shitload of blind turns.
I was going so fast that I almost peed a little. That kind of fear on a bike is fun.

After the ride we
gathered up in the barn before dinner.
We were socializing, and I took the opportunity to present Niner Chris
(not me, the man in charge) with a gift that was handmade by Little Miss
Sunshine. She put her artistic ability
and welding talent to good use to make him a one of a kind gift.

He was excite.

Photo cred: Trey Commander

We met him at
Interbike two years ago, and he make such an impression on her that she felt
like making a gift for him. She makes
all kinds of art projects out of recycled bike parts (you already know this), and this custom piece is
a fine example. And in case you can’t
really read it, it says, “Pedal Damn It.”

Awesome.

What an amazing
weekend. I had high hopes for Mulberry
Gap and I was not disappointed. Amazing
riding, awesome people, and a nice getaway from reality. Well, as one of my new friends put it over the weekend, “This
is reality. Not that other stuff.”

Well said.

So this bullshit I
do every day from 8 to 5 isn’t reality.
It’s just a means to an end. I
just work so I can go outside and play with my toys when I have free time.